Get used to hearing the term “crypto-currency” because it – and the bitcoin brand– are potentially the most disruptive force since the Internet itself.

“Bitcoin is Internet 1994 right now,” said Stephanie Wargo, vice president of marketing Atlanta-based BitPay, the digital currency payment processor that signed a three-year deal to sponsor the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. “Once people understand it and [experience using] it, they will come a long way quickly.”

With that understanding comes opportunity for St. Petersburg and the Tampa Bay business community.

BitPay and Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl officials are planning a brand push to make St. Petersburg the most bitcoin-friendly community in the world this bowl season.

“There have been communities that have tried this, but nothing on this scale,” Wargo said. “We are trying to make is so that the whole experience can be had on bitcoin.”

Officials expect a sizeable bump in the number of fans who come to this year’s bowl game not because of the teams that might get chosen to play there, but because the bitcoin-using community is fiercely loyal and excited to participate in the technology’s milestones.

The increase could be as high as 10 percent to 20 percent, according to BitPay’s projections. The company won’t say how many fans a bitcoin-friendly city will bring to the game with no affiliation to the colleges or football, but it could start at about 10,000.

BitPay put bitcoin’s name on its sponsorship deal instead of its own corporate name to help elevate familiarity and understanding of the emerging technology. Bitcoin needs more name recognition for BitPay to be successful.

St. Petersburg might be just the right community for BitPay’s bitcoin push in part because there is a strong community of eclectic and independent local retailers.

“This is our mentality now,” said St. Petersburg Area Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Chris Steinocher. “We want to be on the cutting edge.”

There are thousands of businesses that will interact with bowl game fans during their stay in Tampa Bay.

Bitcoin could be really appealing to small and independent businesses because transaction fees are significantly lower than credit cards - usually less than a tenth of a penny - and there’s less possibility of fraud. Transactions can be completed on a smartphone or tablet.

Getting buy-in is no small task.

BitPay is not setting a target for how many merchants it wants to be bitcoin-ready for bowl week, but its focus now is on the must-haves such as Tropicana Field and the hotels.

The company’s push began in early July when Wargo led a group to St. Pete to get bowl executives ready to explain bitcoin to the hospitality community. The big hotels are familiar because they have experience with bitcoin conventions that take place in cities like Miami and Amsterdam. Wargo and bowl officials met with independent hotels like the Birchwood Inn, the SandPearl Resort and the Don Cesar to explain what they were trying to do. Centerplate, Tropicana Field’s concessionaire, is familiar with the currency and the technology needed to use it.

“It’s not going to happen sitting in an office,” said Brett Dulaney, executive director of the Bitcoin St. Petersburg Bowl. “My goal is to visit with all of our partners and get them ready (for fans excited to use bitcoin).”

Since the bowl sponsorship deal is for three years, a successful 2014 event is important to drive people back for more in 2015 and 2016.

Some of Bitcoin’s trouble spots

Bitcoin has not been without its struggles as the technology gets started. Two big recent newsmakers shed some light on how the digital currency is struggling in its infancy.

Silk Road: An anonymous online marketplace called the Silk Road – named after ancient east-west trade routes across Asia – was created in 2011 and shut down by the FBI in October 2013. The site’s ability to allow people to trade illegal drugs anonymously led to the arrest of its founder on trafficking charges. The FBI seized more than 26,000 bitcoin from Silk Road accounts during the raid that were worth about $3.6 million.

Mt. Gox: A Tokyo-based bitcoin exchange that once handled as much as 70 percent of bitcoin transactions went under in March. The company lost about 650,000 of its customers’ bitcoin.